Destroyer work to keep BAE busy for years

BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair
, which has 1,360 permanent and 330 temporary employees, says it's likely to have a stable workforce for at least the next five years because the Navy is turning to the yard for help modernizing destroyers.

The Navy undertook a $16.6 billion program to upgrade 84 cruisers and destroyers to ensure that the ships could remain in service for 35-40 years. Much of the work on the cruisers has been completed, and the Navy is now cycling older destroyers into repair yards for lengthy overhauls that can cost tens of millions of dollars.

"We had been averaging two of these extended upgrades per year, then we went up to three," said Robert Kilpatrick, president of BAE's San Diego operation. "Once the modernization (fully) kicks in, we'll be doing three-four a year, presuming that we get the contracts."

BAE is only half the size of its neighbor, General Dynamics NASSCO. But BAE has been flush with business, doing work on as many as 20 local warships a week at its yard in Barrio Logan at and various Navy piers around San Diego Bay. It's trying to expand its workforce by 40-50 people to keep up with the contracts.

Under a cooperative agreement, BAE, NASSCO and Continental Maritime collaborate on some of these projects, particularly large-scale destroyer work, which involves everything from upgrading a ship's hull and machinery to the electronics that run sophisticated weapons systems.

Kilpatrick says he can have as many as 1,000 employees a day working to modernize a single Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, a project rivaled only by the major overhauls that NASSCO performs on large amphibious warships.

The positive jobs forecast for BAE comes at the same time that NASSCO's fortunes have been improving. Last week, the company announced that it had won a $350 million contract to build two large commercial containerships, work that will preserve NASSCO's status as the last major shipbuilder on the West Coast. The contract will sustain 600 of NASSCO's 3,100 jobs.